Viewpoint

With the financial markets broadening their international reach, there was hope that microcredit might alleviate poverty and lead to the emancipation of women in the “global South.” Sadly, however, there are no indications that microfinance has had a positive effect. On the contrary, the poor have suffered more discipline, while surplus labor is extracted from them even more than before. Worse still, the microfinance sector has triggered a series of devastating crises. Our author explains why we can’t use more debt to create social justice.

Physics & Astronomy

Pulsars are the most compact material objects in the universe. Their diameter is approximately equal to that of the city of Munich, but they contain the mass of the Sun. These extreme conditions make them ideal test objects for the theory of general relativity, as the work of Michael Kramer and his colleagues from the Bonn-based Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy shows.

Biology & Medicine

At the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, the focus is on such unpleasant companions as chlamydia, HIV and tubercle bacilli. Stefan H. E. Kaufmann, as Founding Director, helped establish it 20 years ago. Since then, the scientist has been researching the strengths and weaknesses of the tubercle bacillus. Modern tuberculosis research would be inconceivable without him – and he without it.

Material & Technology

The research being undertaken by Doris Vollmer and Hans-Jürgen Butt could not only put an end to the annoyingsmears on window panes, it could also make it possible to produce self-cleaning solar panels or more effective heart-lung machines. The scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz are developing surfaces that are extremely water and blood repellent.

Environment & Cllimate

The hydrological cycle tirelessly distributes water between land, ocean, atmosphere and cryosphere. Stefan Hagemann and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg study the exact details of how this happens. They investigate the various feedback mechanisms between wetlands, artificial irrigation, permafrost and climate.

Further Information

Awards for the MaxPlanckResearch

The BCP is Europe's largest corporate publishing competition, with more than 700 submitted publications annually. In the category "non-profit/associations/institutions", the MaxPlanckResearch magazine was awarded the silver medal. The jury was composed of 140 renowned experts from the world of journalism, art direction, marketing, corporate and internal communication and print as well as direct marketing.

In addition, MaxPlanckResearch won an "Award of Excellence" in the first International Corporate Media Award. The jury based its decision on the science magazine's impressive "use of images and outstanding visualisation of abstract contents". Overall, the jury said the magazine provided an excellent overview of the Max Planck Society's broad research spectrum.

MaxPlanckResearch is although among the nominees in the category „Magazine“ of the Econ Award 2013.